The present invention relates to a double cassette deck to be used as a regular cassette tape recorder and a telephone answering machine.
A double cassette deck for use as a tape recorder and a telephone answering machine is already known, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,728,489 and 4,230,909. In these patents, two tape cassettes are used, wherein one is for sending a message to a telephone caller when receiving a telephone call, and the other is for recording a message from the telephone caller after sending the message to the caller. The message from the caller recorded on the tape can be played back later as in a regular tape recorder. These patents disclose electrical systems for operating the telephone answering machine when receiving a telephone call but do not substantially disclose mechanical systems thereof. Namely, what is disclosed and required in the patent mechanically, not electrically, is that two tape cassettes should be operated independently as in a regular tape recorder.
A double cassette deck available on the market satisfies the mechanical requirement as stated above, that is, two tape cassettes can be independently operated. Generally, two tape cassettes are located on one side of the answering machine and are disposed parallel to each other so that the side faces of the tape cassettes face outwardly from the side of the answering machine. The mechanical parts for the two tape casettes substantially independent, which means that mechanically two cassette tape recorders are simply combined into one telephone answering machine. Even if the two tape cassettes are not arranged as stated above, the above feature that two cassette tape recorders are combined into one machine does not substantially change. Therefore, the double cassette deck for use as a telephone answering machine is not compact.
Accordingly, one object of the invention is to provide a compact double cassette deck for use as a tape recorder and a telephone answering machine.
Another object of the invention is to provide a double cassette deck as stated above, which is mechanically simplified.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.